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Pitchfork: Odd Future Pushes Back on Protest

By Jon Caramanica July 17, 2011 7:00 pmJuly 17, 2011 7:00 pm

Mylan Cannon/The New York TimesHodgy Beats of the rap collective Odd Future on Sunday at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago.

CHICAGO — All weekend, the anti-domestic violence organization Between Friends has been onsite here, handing out fans to festivalgoers that read “Cool It. Don’t Be A Fan Of Violence.” The move was a protest against the presence on the bill of the foulmouthed, spiteful and fantastic Los Angeles rap collective Odd Future, whose appearance on this festival bill largely full of tasteful indie rock became a flashpoint for debates about violent and hateful imagery and messages in music. Rumors of a protest during the group’s performance swirled.

When Odd Future’s DJ Syd began the group’s set playing Bob Marley’s “One Love,” no one mistook it for an olive branch. Soon enough, the full crew was on stage, taunting their detractors. “Big shout out to the domestic violence group that’s here – we love you guys,” said Tyler, the Creator. “World peace,” added Hodgy Beats.

Apart from another acknowledgement at the end of the set, before “Radicals,” the show progressed as most Odd Future shows do: howling on stage, mayhem in the crowd, oodles of stage dives (including by Tyler, wearing a cast on his right leg), chants that make parents nervous, disinterest in naysayers. The protest itself never appeared to materialize, apart from the silent one lodged by the waving of those fans.

A performance by the Seattle rap progressives Shabazz Palaces, led by Ishmael Butler (late of Digable Planets) was scheduled to begin shortly after Odd Future’s on a stage across the park, a twist of scheduling that felt purposefully devious. (Mad about the bratty renegades? Try this healthier option over here.) But Shabazz Palaces successfully pushed back the beginning of its set so that festivalgoers could see both acts more or less in their entirety, a smaller protest gesture, but not a less significant one.